The Secret Seven or "Secret Seven Society" are a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...

. They appear in one of several juvenile detective

Detective fiction

Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...

 series Blyton wrote.

The Secret Seven consists of Peter (the society's leader), Janet (Peter's sister), Jack, Barbara, George, Pam and Colin. Jack's sister Susie and her best friend Binkie often make an appearance in the books; they hate the Secret Seven and delight in playing tricks designed to humiliate them, although much of this is fuelled by their almost obsessive desire to belong to the society.

Unlike most other Blyton series, this one takes place during the school term time because the characters go to day school

Day school

A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...

s.

There are fifteen books, which in chronological order are:

1.The Secret Seven (1949)

In this adventure, Jack finds some men taking a prisoner to the empty old house.The seven turned off to the mystery.Jack and Peter finds the prisoner with the help of other five and handover the men to the inspector.They also made the job easy for them.

2.Secret Seven Adventure (1950)

In this adventure, a priceless pearl

Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...

 gets stolen and what's more the Seven witnessed the thief making his escape! This sets the Seven to indulge in the mystery, and Colin and Peter finally manages to get to the culprit with the help of the other five.

4.Secret Seven on the Trail (1952)

Something mysterious is going on at Tigger's Barn, and the Secret Seven are intrigued. Peter thinks it's all just gossip, but Jack isn't so sure when he overhears a strange conversation. This is claimed to be the most popular book in the series.

5.Go Ahead Secret Seven (1953)

Peter is reminded by Jack's annoying sister, Susie, that the seven have not met for some time. Peter calls a meeting but the meeting is uninteresting as there is no mystery to discuss.

Peter decides the Seven should not be idle though and arranges jobs for all members. George follows a man with a wood hatchet and is caught and has to leave the society.

Pedigree dogs are going missing around the village. The seven observe men walking distressed dogs. Where are the dogs hidden?

6.Good Work Secret Seven (1954)

Peter and Janet's car was stolen for a while with them inside and without the thieves knowing. They leave the car somewhere and leave and the seven are determined to indulge into another mystery.

10.Puzzle for the Secret Seven (1958)

The Secret Seven witnesses a house burn down, and after that a precious violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 stolen. Are the two incidents related?

13.Shock for the Secret Seven (1961)

In this story,dogs are disappearing in their village.the poor scamper becomes the latest victim.
Dick rescues

15.Fun for the Secret Seven (1963)

The Secret Seven also appeared in seven short stories by Blyton, including a mini-novella explaining how the Secret Seven was formed. These were left uncollected until 1998, when they were released by Hodder under the title of Secret Seven: Short Story Collection.

Main characters

• Peter - the society's leader and the most mature of the group. Peter has grown up with very strong ideas about right and wrong. However, he can be bossy and is occasionally downright unreasonable (particularly about wearing badges and remembering the password), reducing Pam and Barbara to tears and on one occasion (he seems to have a little interest in Pam though), even prompting Jack to leave the group. Jack, Janet and Peter more attached with each other than other members of the group. Peter has a sister, Janet, who is also in the secret society, as well as Scamper, who hangs out with the Seven, but is not an actual member.

• Janet - Peter's sister and second-in-command to Peter. Janet is very good at noticing things and remembering them. She is a lot more headstrong than the other girls in the group and her arch-enemy is Susie. She is a lot braver than the other girls and also takes her work seriously. She is very good friends with Pam. She also gets well along with Jack. She thinks of many good ideas.

• Jack - Peter's best friend. He is one of the most efficient group members. He is frequently annoyed with his younger sister, Susie, and also has a tendency to forget the password. He gets along well with everyone in the group, especially Peter, but he is the only member who will willingly stand up to Peter when he feels that Peter is behaving unreasonably, to the extent that he once walked out on the group after an argument with him (although he reconciled with them at the end). He lives very near to Peter and Janet. He thinks Janet is lot better than the other girls and wishes Susie was like Janet.

• Pam - A girl at Janet's school. Her best friend is Barbara and she giggles a lot. She is best friends with Janet and Barbara. Her real name is Pamela. She sometimes proves herself a worthy member of the Secret Seven by getting brainwaves.

• Barbara - Another girl at Janet's school. She always agrees with Pam even if her ideas are worthless.

• Colin - A boy at Peter's school. Colin is quite a valuable member of the society. He has a very large family, most of which live with him.

• George - A boy at Peter's school. His best friend is Colin. His father once banned him from the society, but he later realized his mistake and let George rejoin. Not much else is known about him.

• Scamper - Janet and Peter's pet dog and beloved companion. He is not an official member of the Secret Seven, but many members count him as one, due to his regular usefulness in the denouement of the stories. He has temporarily filled in for members when they have left the group for any reason. He is a golden spaniel dog.

Supporting characters

• Susie - Jack's younger sister who frequently aggravates him and the Society which she enjoys humiliating and tormenting with her quick wit. However, this stems from her burning desire to join the Society, which Peter regularly refuses her. This is actually something of a disadvantage for Peter, as Susie is considerably more clever and cunning than some of the other members, especially Barbara and Pam, and would potentially be a more valuable member. The Seven occasionally make a temporary truce with Susie, and sometimes she helps them solve the mysteries.
• Binkie - Susie's best friend, who stays with her sometimes. Binkie is described as being very stupid and idiotic, but can sometimes make up very clever, but rude songs and poems about the Seven.
• Jack the farmer - Jack the farmer is Peter and Janet's father. He is not as strict as parents of the day, but has taught Peter some very strong ideas about right and wrong.
• Peter and Janet's mother - Peter and Janet's mother is very supportive of the Secret Seven and the good work that they do. She frequently provides snacks for the meetings.
• Jack's mother - Unlike Peter's mother, Jack's mother does not think the Secret Seven is particularly important and gets angry when Jack puts all his effort into fulfilling Peter's wishes although she does sometimes provide for the Seven.
• Matt the Shepherd - Peter's father's colleague, who works on the farm. He has a dog called Shadow who is stolen in a mystery.
• The Inspector - The police inspector who the Secret Seven always report the cases to. He has become a good friend of the Seven
• The Gardener - Peter and Janet's gardener, who has a very bad temper but can be witty.

French series

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Evelyne Lallemand wrote an additional series of 12 books about the Secret Seven, nine of which were translated into English by Anthea Bell

Anthea Bell

Anthea Bell OBE is a British translator who has translated numerous literary works, especially children's literature, from French, German, Danish and Polish to English...

 and published in paperback by Knight Books. The English translations were published between 1983 and 1986. The full French series is as follows:

1. Les Sept à la chasse au lion 1976 (English title: The Seven and the Lion Hunt; English no.: 1)
2. Les Sept font du cinéma 1977 (English title: The Seven on Screen; English no.: 6)
3. Les Sept et le magicien 1977 (English title: The Seven and the Magician; English no.: 3)
4. Les Sept sont dans de beaux draps 1978 (English title: The Seven Go Haunting; English no.: 2)
5. Les Sept et les bulldozers 1978 (English title: The Seven to the Rescue; English no.: 5)
6. Les Sept et la déesse d'or 1979 (English title: The Seven Strike Gold; English no.: 4)
7. Les Sept et les soucoupes volantes 1979 (English title: The Seven and the UFOs; English no.: 7)
8. Les Sept à 200 à l'heure 1980 (English title: The Seven and the Racing Driver; English no.: 9)
9. Les Sept ne croient pas au père Noël 1981 (English title: The Seven and Father Christmas; English no.: 8)
10. Les Sept saluent Lucky Star 1982 (The Seven greet Lucky Star)
11. Les Sept et la boule de cristal 1984 ( The Seven and the crystal ball)

Audio drama

An English Audio drama adaptation with some episodes was published.